


Wine to the Rescue

by kelofmindelan



Category: Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander, Disney - All Media Types, The Black Cauldron (1985)
Genre: Alcohol, Eilonwy rambles too much, F/M, Taran doesn't know how to handle people hitting on him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 11:58:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6050835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelofmindelan/pseuds/kelofmindelan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eilonwy promised her foster mother that she would attend her classmate's wedding, but she didn't promise to enjoy it. However, when she meets Taran - the owner of a nearby vineyard and wine server for this ridiculous show - she realizes she might have more fun than she thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wine to the Rescue

Eilonwy normally loved parties. After all, they were an opportunity to dance, laugh, and meet new people, three of the things she enjoyed the most. (The fourth was finding interesting adventures to get into, but she had been told she absolutely wasn’t allowed to get into any trouble today so that option was limited). But this party was a wedding. Even worse, it was a stuffy high society wedding for a girl she’d gone to school with but wasn’t actually close to in the slightest. As she had long ago learned, ‘high society’ more accurately translated to ‘gossip ridden and incredibly boring’.

With a sigh, she tugged at the neckline of her cerulean gown. Even though this was a classmate, Eilonwy might have still tried to find some excuse not to be here if it hadn’t been for her foster mother.  Teleria meant well, but she could never understand that Eilonwy was completely uninterested in making ‘connections’ or becoming part of a ‘power couple’. She was perfectly satisfied teaching high school physics and no amount of convincing was going to get her into the position of trophy wife or high profile researcher. And really, she should be grading her students’ tests right now, this was a waste of time.

Still, there was no point in moping about this much longer. After all, it wasn’t every day you got to have an entire vineyard to yourself, and it was unlikely that everyone here was stuffy and boring. It was just a matter of finding them. And if any conversation became too annoying, she could always just talk about her job until the other person started to make excuses for why they needed to leave. It usually worked. But first, she needed a glass of wine. There was no way she was going to survive this reception without at least a little alcohol.

Spying the bar across the way, she skirted the dance floor and began to make her way over. There was only one person working the bar, a young man around her own age with his reddish-brown hair pulled back in a small ponytail. Even from over here he looked extremely uncomfortable in his suit which automatically recommended him to her. But it was the recognition of the woman leaning against the bar and his closed expression that had her immediately deciding to come to his defense. She wasn’t breaking her promise if trouble found her after all, was it?

“How interesting. Are you going to have anyone come to relieve you? I’d love to hear more about this. Somewhere more private.”  The forced sultriness in her tone was enough to make Eilonwy want to gag and the poor wine server didn’t look much better. Yep he definitely needed a rescue

“Breanne, why am I not surprised to find you over here,” Eilonwy said, smiling brightly.

The other woman turned quickly towards Eilonwy, almost tipping over her empty glass as she glared. “Eilonwy. We do seem to keep meeting by bars don’t we? If I didn’t know better I’d say you were following me.”

“Oh no, I wouldn’t say that. It must just be a happy coincidence. Although I thought I heard your husband asking for you earlier. You know how he loves dancing with you.”

With a final glare Breanne flounced off, leaving her empty glass behind for the server to take care of. Eilonwy slid into the empty seat across from the man, barely holding back a giggle at the resigned expression on his face. “Don’t worry, not everyone here is as bad as Breanne. Ever since she was a student she’s fantasized about having a ‘low class lover’, and since her husband works from home she can’t seduce any of the servants. That makes the people working at a wedding her next best opportunity.”

“Hm,” he murmured noncommittally, wiping the bar down with a cloth.

“Can I have a glass of wine? Whichever one you recommend the most, since you seem like you’re more familiar with them than I am. Not that I never have wine but if you’re working a wedding like this you must be considered especially trust worthy. Graham is a good man as these sorts go, but he’s still a snob. I’m Eilonwy by the way. It’s nice to meet you.”

As she spoke, the server began to look more and more amused, although there was definitely an element of confusion to it. Not that Eilonwy was surprised. She tended to have that effect on people even when she wasn’t trying. Still, she hoped he would respond at least a little bit. Especially after she’d gone through all that effort of rescuing him from a situation that was making him uncomfortable, a hi would be the least he could do. Or the wine. She would really appreciate the wine.

“I’m Taran. Well since you left it up to me and you did say my recommendation, I’ll give you a glass of the Merlot. It’s the house specialty.” He put the dark red in front of her and grinned slightly before putting the bottle away.

“House special – wait did you say Taran? As in Taran Prydain, the owner of Caer Dallben vineyards? Graham mentioned you, but I didn’t think I would actually get to meet you since I figured the owner of a vineyard would have so much to do and you seem much younger than I would have guessed. I thought Caer Dallben had been around for ages, but you must be close to my age.” She took a sip of the wine in front of her, the only real reason she stopped talking at all. “Oh this is delicious. You’re very good. Or at least the grapes are and you don’t seem to have messed them up, but I suppose the two things have to go together to make a good wine. How do you make wine?”

The longer she spoke, the more amused and bewildered Taran began to look. Apparently he wasn’t used to people like Eilonwy, but she really didn’t care. She was much too interested in what he had to say. “Do you actually want answers to all of those questions?”

She took another sip before making a slight face at him. “Of course I do. I wouldn’t be asking if I wasn’t interested in what you had to say.”

“Don’t you want to dance with your boyfriend or – or whatever you were planning to do today?”

“I don’t have a boyfriend and this conversation is much more interesting than the ones I would be having with anyone else here. No one will talk science with me for very long, it makes them uncomfortable.”

“Talk science?”

“Of course. I teach physics at the high school down the road, but the slightest mention of light particles and people’s eyes start to glaze over. But I know hardly anything about how wine is made or how you started making wine so I’m interested.”

Taran leaned against the bar towards her, looking more interested by the moment. Maybe she had finally put him at ease or maybe he was as interested as she was, but they had slowly inched closer together over the course of the conversation. “Dallben, the original owner of the vineyard, is the one who raised me. He taught me everything I know. But he decided to retire a few years ago and officially passed the ownership over to me.”

“And the wine making?”

“Look, if you’re that interested, why don’t you come by another time. I could give you a tour and answer your questions then.”

Eilonwy nearly bounced on her stool in her excitement, leaning even farther closer to him. “Really? All my questions? The kids get out early this Friday, I could stop by after school then if that works for you.”

“Yeah that’s fine.”

“Great! I’ll – “ before she could say anything else, she heard her foster mother call her name and she winced. “I have to go. But I’ll see you on Friday all right?” She quickly finished her wine and shoved a tip in the jar, flashing one last grin. At least she had something to look forward to now through this ridiculous wedding and the week to follow.

“Eilonwy, there you are. Rhun has been looking for you. You did promise him a dance.”

No, she’d promised Teleria she’d dance with Rhun. But she could put up with it. It was only for the afternoon after all. “Yes, I know. I’m going.” One last time she looked over her shoulder at the wine seller only to find Taran’s eyes locked firmly on her. She grinned at him, raising one eyebrow, before walking away. Oh she was definitely looking forward to Friday.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in response to a tumblr prompt 'Two miserable people meeting at a wedding'.


End file.
